Post-presidency
In July 2009, Kufuor became a member of the SNV Netherlands Development Organisation International Advisory Board to contribute his expertise to the organisation's poverty reduction work. In September 2009, Kufuor spoke in the Netherlands at Dutch government event to mark '60 years of development aid' at the invitation of Dutch Minister Bert Koenders, which was attended by nearly 2,000 people. During his visit to the Netherlands, he was interviewed by the newspaper NRC Handelsblad and the Internationale Samenwerking magazine. He argued for the importance of effective development assistance, pointing out that development aid helped Ghana enter the international capital market.
On September 21, 2009, he delivered the prestigious Legatum Pericles Lecture at the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. John Kufuor is the Governing Council Chairman of Interpeace, an international peacebuilding organization based in Geneva since October 2009. He also became a member of the prestigious Club of Madrid, the largest grouping of former democratically elected heads of state.
John Agyekum Kufour has been chosen together with Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva to jointly receive the 2011 World Food Prize for their personal commitment and visionary leadership while serving as the presidents of Ghana and of Brazil, respectively, in creating and implementing government policies to alleviate hunger and poverty in their countries. The foundation in a statement said the significant achievements of these two Laureates illustrate that transformational leadership truly can effect positive change and greatly improve people’s lives.
On September 20, 2011, he inaugurated the John Agyekum Kufuor (JAK) Foundation with a ground breaking ceremony for the JAK Centre for Leadership, Governance and Development at the University of Ghana, Legon. The inaugural lecture which attracted very high local and foreign dignitaries had H.E. Horst Koehler, ex-president of the Republic of Germany, as its guest speaker. Thabo Mbeki, ex-president of South Africa and ex-president Jerry John Rawlings, Mr. Kufour's fiercest critic, were among the dignitaries who attended the ceremony. The ex-presidents also unveiled a plaque on September 22, 2011 for the Kufuor Presidential Library and Museum at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, which formed part of the John A. Kufuor Foundation.
On October 14, 2011, President Kufuor received the 2011 World Food Prize, along with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for his personal commitment and visionary leadership while serving as the president of Ghana, and in creating and implementing government policies to alleviate hunger and poverty in his country.
Since November 2011 John Agyekum Kufour is the first high-level Chair of the Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) partnership.
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